A Knoxville woman's husband passed away, but the federal government thinks she is the one who died.

"This is just some of the paperwork I had filed," said Sherry Bates.

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Instead of enjoying retirement after a 31-year career with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Bates has been knee deep in paperwork trying to fix a federal government mistake that she said has cost her more than $10,000.

"It's a terribly screwed up system," said Bates.

The issues started shortly after her husband's death in June.

Bates received monthly pension payments through the U.S. Office of Personnel Management from April until August, when the checks suddenly stopped.

OPM told her it's because a coding error that mistakenly marked her as deceased.

"Can this really be happening, because I really felt like I had so much on my plate, you know -- my husband's unexpected death," said Bates.

She has contacted OPM weekly, but received no money for five months.

"I was thinking I'll be able to live pretty decent and then to know, no money -- none. That's the part that's devastating," said Bates.

Her family stepped in to help make ends meet.

Bates said another error has also popped up.

OPM claims Bates only worked 22 years at the VA instead of the 31 years that she actually worked there. This other error means that on top of not receiving the payments related to her husband worth about $10,000, now OPM also claims that she also owes them more than $8,500 related to the employment error.

"I'm ready to scream now and I'm just thinking if my husband was here, you know he would have made it somehow easier to cope with," said Bates.

Bates has reached out to a couple politicians for help, including U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst.

KCCI has been trying to contact OPM all day to get answers, but hasn't gotten a hold of anyone yet.